Taking a Laptop...is it worth it?

[mithryl]

We'll be sailing the Diamond Princess R/T to Hawaii on March 2nd. We've both used the Internet Cafe on previous sailings, but are considering taking our laptop this time. What are your experiences as far as signal availability (I know sometimes there are no signals, even for the Internet Cafe). Can you connect to the Internet from your cabin, or are there only a few areas on the ship where you have to go to get a signal?

We're trying to decide if it's worth. Is using your own laptop as slow as using the Internet Cafe? We've always been able to find a seat, so that's not an issue. I guess we're hoping we can relax in the cabin and connect without having to carry the laptop around the ship. Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Vicki

[paul929207]

I bring my laptop, but use the internet cafe. I use the laptop to back up pictures and start editing them.

[glgolfer]

We always take ours to upload pictures, etc. We also use it to compose email messages to send and copy and paste them.

 

Don't know about Princess, but RCI has WIFI hot spots around the ship. I tend to use them around midnight or later as the connection is faster.

[FritzG]

We took our laptop on the Diamond Jan 17-Feb.1. The wifi rate is $.50/min. vs. $.75 in the internet cafe. Also I heard a lot of people complaining about how slow the cafe was. I thought wifi was pretty good; it was much faster than dial-up, but not as fast as broadband would be. I was pretty pleased with it. We either used the writing room next to the library or sat at a table in Horizon Court Deck 14. I'd definitely take my laptop again.

[kitty9]

Wifi is very spotty. Because of the metal superstructure of the ship, getting a connection in your cabin probably won't happen. You'll have to hunt for a hot spot. As for speed, it's "slightly" faster than the cafe computers, but not much. It still takes forever to download one internet page.

[ehfl]

Bring a laptop if you need it for work, or you want to watch movies, or copy your pictures from your camera to the computer. If you just need a periodic e-mail check, you can use the ship's computers. On both ships I've been on, the wireless works fine in the room.

[mithryl]

Bring a laptop if you need it for work, or you want to watch movies, or copy your pictures from your camera to the computer. If you just need a periodic e-mail check, you can use the ship's computers. On both ships I've been on, the wireless works fine in the room.

 

ehfl,

 

Were the ships you were on Princess Ships?

Has anyone else had experience using their laptops to connect to the internet from your cabins? (We'll be in a balcony room, port/aft.

 

Thanks,

 

Vicki

[DanJ]

I thought Princess was going to start rolling out wifi access throughout the ship, but can't find a press release about it. Might be thinking of another cruise line.

 

Anyway, I would use my own laptop on board, and saw many people in the cafe who did. Seems to me that it would be quicker to do your stuff online when your computer already has your favourites in it. And for email, you can compose your email on your laptop, connect and send it. Or download your email, disconnect, read it, reply, re-connect and send. To do email on the ships computer costs per minute while you sit there typing it out.

 

When I was doing my live from Cb thread, I couldn't help thinking it would be so much nicer to be sitting out on deck, typing up what I wanted to say, then go to the cafe, connect, copy/paste that onto here, and be done instead of paying 50 cents per minute while I typed.

[jlparke5]

I have a laptop with a Sprint wireless card. Will I still have to pay for connecting and do you think I can get service.